Sega, THQ team up to produce Game Boy titles

Sega Corp. and THQ Inc. have agreed to put out 16 titles jointly in North America over the next two years for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance hand-held video-game player.

Sega, which in February discontinued its Dreamcast console after losing hundreds of millions of dollars, has been searching for ways to ramp up its titles on other consoles. It has already announced that it will publish its games on Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2, Microsoft's upcoming Xbox, as well as six games for Game Boy Advance.

But the Japanese game maker found itself with little time and a great deal of financial pressure to master several platforms at once. By teaming up with THQ to co-publish and co-develop the games, Sega will be able to tap into THQ's expertise as the biggest publisher of Game Boy titles after Nintendo.

THQ, in turn, will have access to Sega's extensive library of well-known franchises, such as Sonic the Hedgehog.

The two companies will share the development, marketing and distribution of the games, and THQ will pay Sega an unspecified royalty. Company officials declined to give financial details of their deal.